CX manager & race game
In a race, Cyclocross is Boss is played segment by segment. Every small piece of the course — grass, mud, sand, woods, camber, corner, stairs — is a decision. Two choices come back almost every time: how hard to ride and which line to take. Around them, a whole system of rules — gauges, groups, crashes, traffic jams — tells a race that never plays out the same way twice. Here is how it all works, and why there is never a single “right answer” on the road to victory.
1. The principle: one decision per segment
In Segment mode (the finest of the three race modes, alongside Quick Simulation and Tactical mode), the game stops on every segment and shows a panel with the possible choices. A 15-second countdown runs: with no answer, your last decision carries on (the “Disable the decision timer” option in the settings removes it so you can play at your own pace). Consecutive segments of the same type ask for just one decision: the choice made on the first one is replayed on the following ones. And on a segment with no choice (a straight on tarmac, for example), the panel says “Nothing to decide here — it carries on by itself”.
Every rider now moves at their own pace on their own segment: there is no synchronised bunch any more. The gaps are real, groups form and break up, and a rider who falls too far behind (in the order of one lap) is pulled out of the race.
2. Effort: four levels, four prices to pay
The effort slider (formerly “pace”) can be set at any time. We renamed it: “aggressive” suggested a way of riding, when it is really a level of intensity. Each level targets a precise heart rate and comes at a different cost:
| Effort | Target BPM | Segment time | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recovery | 162 | about +10% | Recharges anaerobic, spares endurance. The resting level… but the slowest. |
| Economical | 170 | about +4% | Slightly recharges anaerobic, uses little: the management level. |
| Sustained | 180 | reference | The “normal” rhythm of the bunch: no gain or loss of anaerobic. |
| All out | 192 | about −7% | The only real way to open a gap… by draining anaerobic, using more endurance and wearing down lucidity. |
The pulse does not jump straight to its target: it glides towards it, faster when all out, slower in recovery. Easing off for two segments therefore does not bring a rider back down from the red.
3. Four gauges that live during the race
Heart rate (BPM), anaerobic (0 to 10), endurance and lucidity change on every segment. One rule sets them apart: lucidity never comes back. It melts over the length of the race depending on your effort (sustained and all out use it, economical and recovery do not, but do not give it back either). Managing it means choosing when you want to spend it.
4. Attack: cartridges, not a quota
An Attack button gives a one-off burst of speed. It always has a price, paid in anaerobic: about 4 points for an average rider at high intensity, far less from a calm rhythm, less still with good explosiveness and a good start on lap one. In return, a gain of a few seconds (from 3 to 8 depending on explosiveness) and momentum on the next two segments. Each time a rider has spent the equivalent of their anaerobic ceiling, that ceiling shrinks: those are their “cartridges”. AI-controlled opponents follow exactly the same rules, and the race leader never attacks.
5. What the game forbids (and why)
No silent downgrading: the limits are shown on the slider. With no anaerobic left, the “all out” level is greyed out. With no endurance left, only Recovery remains. What is shown is exactly what is applied.
6. The line: the path you take
On most terrains, three lines are possible. They are never purely “good” or “bad”:
| Line | Time | Advantage | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inside (the apex) | about −7% | The shortest, the fastest | Dirtier bike, higher pulse, melting anaerobic, risk of a traffic jam if everyone goes through there… and, with lucidity at zero, a risk of crashing |
| Middle | reference | The balance | A little dirt, a little crowd |
| Outside | about +7% | Clean, lower pulse, no traffic jam | Longer |
Each terrain rewrites these lines in its own words: on grass, “inside rut” or “clean grass”; on dirt, “main line” or “stable edge”; in the woods, “central track” or “sides (roots)”; on camber, “high (fast)” or “low (safe)”; in sand, “main groove” (fast, but busy) or “secondary groove” (clearer, slower).
7. The choice that is not one: dirt
The inside line “dirties”: every segment taken on the inside clogs the bike (0.7 on grass against 0.2 in the middle and 0 on the outside). A high dirt level costs pulse, time and lucidity — and is cleaned… in the pits. Taking the inside line is therefore borrowing time from your future.
8. Sand, mud, planks: ride or run?
In sand, mud and on planks, a second decision appears: ride through (risky but fast) or run (safe). Succeeding on the bike depends on the rider’s skill (their terrain stat and technique), but also on the state of the ground: dry ground lets almost everything through, ground soaked by rain only forgives the best technicians. A failure is expensive (about 3.5 s more, the rider ends up running); a success saves time and heartbeats. Riding through also requires being in good shape: a reasonable pulse, a little anaerobic in reserve, a bike that is not too dirty. AI opponents only try to ride through when it pays off.
Carrying the bike is no longer a blind penalty: it is running (the stat counts), with a cost in heartbeats depending on that same stat and a lighter re-acceleration. And a carried bike no longer feels the effects of the tyre pressure and tread you chose.
9. When the race gets complicated: groups, traffic jams, crashes
Before a corner, you can stay sheltered or force your way to the front: a move that can fail if everyone rides harder than you, and that costs effort and lucidity. In a small group (2 to 6 riders) there is no draft decision to make any more: a message points out the nearby group ahead (to join by raising your effort) or behind (to let it come back or to drop).
Crashes have become real: lucidity at zero on a risky line, a crash ahead that you avoid through caution or agility, or a crowd crash in a corner when a big group (more than ten riders) piles in — the outside line avoids the crowd. A crash costs 4.5 s, more than getting bogged down; rain and soaked ground multiply the risks. And the game warns you: alerts — crash, bogged down, stuck in traffic — flag a favourite or a nearby rider, with a pin on the map at the exact spot.
Two pit zones per lap let you change bike; to finish, the last three segments open the sprint: lead out (far, normal or short) or follow someone.
10. And if you prefer directing to riding?
Tactical mode keeps the same rules without asking for a decision on every segment: you set your intentions at any time with four sliders — Effort (Economical, Regular, Sustained, All out), Lines (Clean, Mixed, Fast), Pit strategy (Early, Normal, Late) and Positioning (Shelter, Balanced, Move up) — and a box to catch nearby groups. The AI then plays every segment within your instructions, never breaking its own safeguards (pulse in the red, anaerobic at zero, overheating).
In short
Four effort levels, three lines, gauges that drain, groups that move, crashes that punish… and dozens of possible combinations on every segment. Riding fast costs a lot, riding clean costs time: the whole road to victory comes down to that permanent trade-off, segment after segment.